Birthdays and Parties

I am just wondering what people do in regards to birthdays and having parties etc.

This year DD is 2, still not quite old enough to really grasp the concept of birthdays = parties which is a good thing as I will be 35-36 weeks pregnant by then.

We are buying a massive cubby house for her this year as well as building a swing set and maybe getting her a slide. She won't remember that these were for her for her 2nd but they will always be there for her to play in etc ITMS??

Because this is quite a purchase we have decided not to have a party but rather do a cake and provide a few nibbles in a local park if the weather is good.

Thinking about it logically - kids parties can be quite exxy so I am wondering IF YOU actually do a party every single year for each of your kids? Do you do alternating years?

I have a feeling I might have done a post like this before but I cannot remember :rofl:

Nae x

at the moment we're doing yearly - we only have one kidlet, and it's a chance for some of the extended family and friends to get together all at once to celebrate our princess

once she starts school, we may do it alternate years - but then, if she's our one and only, who knows?

We have decided to do a party for the odd years until they are 5 and then every 3-4 years after that.

For DD1 2nd birthday, I just had it on the actual day (Friday) and invited over a few friends with their kids and it was more like a play date. All I bought was Party pies, sausagerolls and watermelon.

we are doing odd years aswell means 1 bday a year...I go the full hog but I love a good bday party

dont think she wont remember her cubby was for her 2nd bday Jack got a tramp for xmas just after his 2nd bday he was 2yrs 3mths and he still remember he was 2 when he got it he is almost 5

So far DS1 has only had a 3rd birthday party as we figured he was old enough to understand and be excited! He still says "my buzz party" and sleeps with copy of invite 2 months on!!!

DS2 will not get a party till 3 either, not sure yet what other ages we will do! I thought that DS1's would not be too $$$ but it all added up
Fairly quickly (had to hire venue as no space at home) then cost of food,party bags, drinks, cake etc! Spent more in the end that a play centre party which I was surprised at.

ADDIT we do celebrate there birthdays just us with a day trip to zoo or something if DH can get day off and a nice dinner and cake at home!

DD1 had a MASSIVE first birthday then she had basically a family party for her 2nd with a few friends.
She is not getting a PARTY this year but we will do dinner @ IL's and i am thinking of inviting some of our local friends (BB ladies) to the play centre the at some stage that week.. not as a party but as an excuse to play.
Next yr she will be in 3yr old kind so she will get a party.

DD2 didn't get a 1st birthday due to $$ and the fact it's right after x-mas but this year she WILL be getting a party.

DD is 2 and hasn't had a party yet, although we do celebrate with her by having a special tea at home (just us three) and we do visit or see family members around the date. I think I'll save actual parties to when she is older and can have a few of her own friends round.

So far we've only done 1st birthday parties for our sons. For their birthdays (well so far only had a 1st birthday for DS2 and DS1 is up to 3) we have something else that's family fun...eg DS1's 2nd birthday we went to Australia Zoo and this years 3rd birthday we went to a railway museum- all my boys (including the big one- DH) loved it.

I was thinking of maybe doing a small party next year for DS1's 4th birthday next May. If we did it would only be for some childcare friends....maybe at a playcentre. One of DS1's kindy friends had a party that he was invited too this year...it was fun though watching him and his friends all playing like that. But i figure parties would be better when my boys are older and can remember them- plus organising parties stress me out so i'd rather avoid them.

I think as they get older I'll give them an option of small party, fun family outing or a more expensive present.

Bec sent this from her Samsung using Tapatalk- please excuse any mistakes- still adjusting to this new phone.

We had a mini-family weekend away to the beach and Werribee zoo for DS1s 1st birthday. Then we had a party for his second birthday. 3rd birthday was just us again- cake and presents at home.

I don't think I'll really get into parties until the kids are at school and have their own friends they want to invite. Otherwise it'll just be cake and pressies as a family.

At the moment we do individual parties every second and a combined the year in between cause their birthdays are only 2 weeks apart.

We don't have a party in the traditional sense of the word. 1st and 2nd birthdays were immediate family. They are the people DD is most comfortable with. 1st birthday was here at home 2nd birthday was at a miniature railway and we had a picnic where everyone brought their own, but I provided all the sweets.

Ok..I subscribed earlier in the day and now finally ready :)

With all the kids we have had a first birthday with family and friends.
With DS1 it was quite different as I had a MG and we did a birthday for the kids jointly for a good 3-4yrs before the kids started to make their own friends and then it stopped.
DS1 had a party when he was turning 5 then one in grade prep and that is it so far. Last year we took him to the Melbourne show for his very first time and it was on his birthday, so he was happy with that.
Same again this year...although next year he wants a party and we are happy for him to have one then as it will hopefully be only 5 or so friends.
DS2 has not had a party since his first birthday. He is not very interested. If he asks for one next year when he starts prep, he too can have one.
We then intend to get some sort of system going such as alternate years.
With DD, it will probably be the same as DS2...although she seems to be more outgoing, so she may have a birthday in her Kinder year.

The parties DS1 had was a place that charge per head, you pick a menu and have a host, it was the the Pointcook Homestead both years as he loved it! It wasn't too pricey, around $10 per child and that inlcuded a party bag at the end.

A GF has 3 kids and they alternate the party years. So each child gets a party every 3yrs.

I am hoping with DS1 next year, I can just shout five of his friends to the movies or have a sleep over.

DS has 4-5 "birthday parties" a year: one is around his birthday. The rest is just an excuse to have a few friends around, play games and eat "candle cake".

Birthday parties don't have to be that expensive: all DS wants is some picnic food/BBQ food and a cake. It's more a social thing. I'll be doing park parties when he wants more than 3-4 friends round. Family isn't so much of an issue as everyone is supposed technically an adult (yes, that is supposed to include me), bar 2 of Liebling's cousins.

Parties every year (well not 1yo) for us here. Not that I want to, I would prefer every second year, or to maybe just have 1 special friend over for a sleep over. Saying that though, for is birthday parties are a way for us getting involved in the area and meeting the parents. Since DD1's party I have found many of the parents are much friendlier as the party gave us a chance to get to know each other a bit. We live out of town, so many parents end up staying as it is not worth them driving home, plus we cater for parents. If they are hanging out they deserve a good cup of coffee and some nibbles ;)

DH is big on parties, I am sure he would spend $1000 on a party if he could. Have to reign in him. He seems to think he got a party every year, but his mother says different. Hoping once we are more settled that we can cut back to every second year, with the girls on alternate years.

Hi Nae,

We have only done a b'day party for DD 1st and 3rd b'days. She will have another one next year b/c that is the last year she will be with all her friends prior to school (they are all going to different schools).

I swear I was never going to do yearly b'day parties for DD, only 'milestone' ones. I'll see what happens when she goes to school.

We do have a small party every year, I suppose, but it's just with close family, just my mum/two brothers/SIL/niece and nephew and of course the 5 of us (DS's 1 and 2, DD, DH and I). Or this year for DD, we had a morning tea with some friends and their kids (because we have moved 900km away from my extended family in the last year), there did end up being a fair few people, but we have a morning tea/coffee/play date pretty frequently anyway with the same people. I asked for no pressies (though some people chose to bring one anyway) and provided a few snacky things, cordial, coffee and birthday cake, again which is what I would usually provide for people at a morning tea date at my house anyway (besides the cake being a 'birthday' cake!). We had a few party hats and balloons from previous parties and used those.
Each child has had (or will have!) a pretty big 1st bday party with all the bells and whistles, but I don't plan on having anything big for any of them again until their 5th bdays (which is next yr for DD....eeekkk, when did that happen??). Not sure after that, lol.

DD#2 had her first birthday party at the MILs and got utterly overwhelmed by the number of people there - she hates crowds. So we've tried to keep it low-key ever since. She's always been an easily upset grumpybum.

What tends to happen now is the two small kids get their birthdays rounded to the nearest major event and a very very small gathering (maybe 10 people including the 3 kids and us) and just have a nice cake and blow out candles. Haven't had kiddies visit or anything. One kid is 2 days after christmas, one is 2 weeks after xmas and one is 1 week before my father's birthday.

Miss 10 had her first proper birthday party this year. Normally her friends are all away on her birthday, or she's away. This year was the first year she was home on her birthday and she managed to get 3 friends visiting too and we went to the pool and then had a waterfight.

Very simple stuff, doesn't cost much but none of the kids ever get to be the center of attention, especially the youngest now he shares a birthday. But then the youngest never gets gifts, has all hand-me-down stuff etc too so this is just enforcing any issues he's going to have growing up as the neglected third child ... hmmmmmmm

DS recently turned 2 & we've had parties for both of his birthdays. We only have a very small number of kids (5) attending, plus family members, so maybe 20 people in total. But given he was born in the middle of winter in Melbourne, both parties have been indoors at home, which can be a little boring. It was freezing cold & raining this year, so the adults just ate, drank & talked while the kids played with balloons! Most of the people who came had colds & were coughing & sneezing. DS was actually in a horrible mood. He screamed when we tried sing Happy Birthday & couldn't care less about his presents - he just wanted to play with the same toy over & over!

I don't think we're having a party next year, we might choose a nice day to go to the zoo instead & have a pizza/cake for very close family at home.

Every year we do a cake and a dinner out with family. I put balloons up around the house and make it look cool.
People here dont do partys for some reason so we'll wait til they are older and then have a couple of friends over for maybe a sleep over or what ever they want. Dont want to make a rod for our back here. 3 partys a year would be way expensive

DS - 1st birthday just us and mil. 2nd birthday party at hungry jacks. 3rd birthday party at play centre.
DD1 - 1st birthday little party at home. 2nd birthday party at play centre.
DD2 - her birthday is the 31/12 so we are planning a big 1st birthday combined with a new years eve party.

after this year I think we are going to have to dial it back to every 2nd year or very small parties. with 4 kids it would be $1000+ on birthday parties a year. I think that is a bit much. For DS's 4th birthday I am just going to order pizza, make a cake and some snacks and thats it.

We are planning to only have parties every now and then, not every year. The day will always involve cake and special tea and maybe some family or friends or maybe a special day out, but not a party every year.

Thanks for all the replies, its really very interesting isn't it.

We did a big thing for DD 1st birthday and will do a big thing for the next little princess' 1st birthday so MAY do something for DD's 3rd but thats over a year away.

I do love the idea of going somewhere special like the zoo or aquarium or Healesville etc and having a special day out as its not something we do a lot here.

I have decided that when both the little Miss Muffits get big enough then perhaps I will give them the option of having a few friends over or a special present (big present) or a day out somewhere of their choosing. I say that now but who knows how it will all turn out :rofl:

Nae x